The Best of Bob Welch

Bob Welch has had an interesting, yet arguably frustrating career. The singer, songwriter, and guitarist spent five years and five albums with Fleetwood Mac in the early 1970s and left just before the band became a superstar act. The 1991 Rhino compilation The Best of Bob Welch collects the highlights of his work from 1976 to 1991. Welch's creative prime resulted in two calculated, meticulously crafted, consciously commercial pop/rock albums for Capitol Records: 1977's French Kiss and 1979's Three Hearts. All of Welch's big and modest hits from these records are included: "Sentimental Lady" (a re-recording of a song he'd previously cut with Fleetwood Mac), "Hot Love, Cold World," "Ebony Eyes," "Precious Love," and "Church." The haunting Three Hearts album cut "The Ghost of Flight 401" is featured too. Four songs from the two 1976 albums recorded by Welch's ill-fated hard rock trio Paris are quite interesting, particularly the spacy, hard funk of "Big Towne, 2061" and the melodic crunch of "Heart of Stone." Another Fleetwood Mac re-recording, the smooth "Future Games," is enjoyable, and the James Dean-inspired rocker "Rebel Rouser" shows the artist is capable of adding a little sting to his craftsmanship. As musical styles shifted in the early 1980s, Welch attempted to keep up, but the bizarre new wave song "Man Overboard" and experimental junk like "B666" don't fairly represent Welch's gifts. His career quickly stalled. A 1991 demo, "Don't Stop," recorded with his new band Avenue 'M' shows Welch re-embracing his winning formula, but he wasn't able to reclaim his 1970s success. The liner notes essay by Barry Alfonso is a warts-and-all look at this artist's career.